


New York City

by rainbowjaeger



Series: Gallyafest [4]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, does this even count as fluff, idk - Freeform, illya tells stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-12 01:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5648419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowjaeger/pseuds/rainbowjaeger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team goes on vacation to New York, much to Illya's dismay. He deals with his past in the city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New York City

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it took me so long! Christmas and newyear and school got in the way.  
> This has not been beta-ed, so bear with me, please.

When they were about to land in New York City, Gaby spotted Illya looking out the airplane window, with an expression on his face she couldn’t quite place. It’d looked a little lost, one would even call it a look of sentiment. But Gaby knew Illya wasn’t very sentimental, much less over anything American.

“Happy to be back, Peril?” Solo asked, his signature smirk on his face. All he got from Illya was a noncommittal hum.

“Back?” Gaby asked.

“I have lived in New York, long time ago,” Illya explained, his eyes no longer looking out the window but instead looking at nothing in the airplane in particular.

Gaby leaned forward in her chair. She had to hear this one. “Really? Why? Did you like it?”

“Series of missions in US. City was not bad. Moscow is nicer, though.” He accompanied this overly-casual answer with a shrug. Clearly, he was reluctant to talk about his past in the city, so Gaby decided to leave it at that.

When they stepped out of the airport and had hailed a taxi to get them and their baggage to the hotel – one small suitcase for Illya, a much bigger one for Gaby and two big ones for Solo – Gaby couldn’t stop smiling and pointing at everything, shaking Illya’s arm every time she spotted a new thing to gaze at in awe. He’d faked an annoyed face.

“I’ve never been to America before,” she nearly whispered. “I always wanted to go, though.”

Napoleon smiled fondly. “I bet you’re going to love it. It’s my hometown, after all.”

As soon as they had dropped off their baggage at the hotel, Gaby and Solo went out. Show her the sights, and the best places to get drunk, most likely.

Illya stayed at the hotel, playing a lone game of chess. He wanted to go see the city, too, but wasn’t too keen on having to drag his partners back to the hotel in a drunken stupor. He never liked alcohol much, anyway.

Gaby would probably want to go shopping tomorrow, he thought to himself. Or at least go somewhere. He’d take her wherever. He wasn’t too familiar with the busy streets of the metropolis anymore, but he didn’t particularly care. Getting lost with Gaby was fun. She’d always make a face like she was solving the most difficult equation in the world, before getting a Eureka moment and finding some way to get them back to any point they recognized. It was endlessly amusing to Illya.

After his sixth game of chess, he glanced at the clock. It was nearly 2 in the morning. He didn’t expect Gaby and Solo to return anytime soon, so he went to bed. He shared a suite with Gaby this time, after having to share one with Napoleon three times in a row.

They weren’t on a mission now, though. After a mission in Greece that’d ended in a disaster, Waverly had sent them off to recuperate for a week. They were allowed to pick their place of vacation, and when Solo had suggested New York City, Gaby nearly jumped out of her chair. New York it was.

He’d been drifting in and out of sleep for nearly three hours when he heard the door open quietly, but then slam shut. He would and should’ve been suspicious enough to go check it out with at least a gun tucked into his pajama pants, but after nearly a year of sharing hotel rooms with Gaby Teller, he had learned to recognize the sound of her steps.

He stayed awake for another half hour, and was about to get up to go check out the main room, but Gaby stumbled into the bedroom. He heard her swear in German after a loud _bang_. She’d probably run into something in the dark, and Illya allowed himself to smile since it was too dark for her to notice anyway.

Not bothering to go brush her teeth, remove her makeup or even change into pajamas, she fell onto her side of the bed.

Gaby had told him pointedly that the left side was _her_ side of the bed, and if he didn’t stay on his side, she’d push him off the bed. Illya knew she wasn’t strong enough to move him even an inch, but he still obeyed. He knew by now not to mess with the little Chop Shop Girl.

Illya stayed awake as he felt Gaby shift from side to side numerous times. She might’ve been drunk, but her insomnia wasn’t planning on letting her drift into sleep just yet.

He turned to his other side, now laying on his right side, facing an annoyed Gaby. “Can’t sleep?”

When he got nothing but an irritated huff, he continued. “Too much to drink,” he concluded.

“I did not!” she exclaimed, exasperated by the tone of his voice, or maybe the fact that he could go to sleep whenever he wanted.

“If you say so.” Illya closed his eyes, pretending to go back to sleep.

A minute or so passed before Gaby asked him: “What did you think of New York when you lived here?” Her voice was small and careful. Illya’s past was more often than not not a point of discussion, though there were rare times where he was willing to share some of it. It was exclusively when he and Gaby were alone, though.

“I told you. It wasn’t the worst. I like Moscow better though.” He paused for a moment. “London, too.”

“Were you judged? Because of your accent?”

“Of course. Usually it was nothing more than stares and a comment every now and then. Sometimes I was denied service in shop or restaurant, though.” He wasn’t fazed by it then, and not now. He‘d never cared about the opinions of Americans.

“That’s dumb,” Gaby commented. She seemed more offended than him.

“It was.”

They lay in silence for another few minutes, until Illya decided he would tell her more.

“I’d made a friend here, though.” When Gaby stayed silent, he continued. “He was American. Not at all like Solo, though. Much less… show-off. Much nicer. Quieter, too.” He smiled at the memory of his old friend. “It was the first friend I had made since childhood.”

“What was he like? How did you meet him?” Gaby thought of more questions. “What was his name, even?”

Illya had to think. He hadn’t told anybody about his friend, and it’d been more than eight years ago. “I was lost in New York. I did not like asking for direction, but I had to, eventually. I asked him and he commented on my accent. Then said he’d tell me the directions if I bought him a beer.” He sighed. “Typical American.”

Gaby snorted. “You actually did that? Doesn’t seem like you.”

“I was young and lost,” he shrugged. Gaby could tell he was a bit embarrassed, though.

“After that, I finished the mission I was on and we spent some more time together.” It was dark and Gaby wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought she saw his face get more solemn than before. “He turned out to be CIA. Was supposed to kill me. He’d worked under the name George, but it was alias. I never found out his real name.”

“What happened to him?”

“He took me by surprise,” he said, pointing at the scar next to his left eye. Gaby had always wondered what it was from, but never dared to ask. “KGB sniper backed me up that evening and shot him through chest.”

“Oh,” Gaby’s voice fell. Every time Illya told her a story from his past (which almost never happened), it ended in a tragedy somehow. It saddened her every time.

“Is okay,” he said softly and stroked Gaby’s cheek. She simply sighed and closed her eyes.

“Take me somewhere tomorrow.” She didn’t phrase it like a question, but Illya had already planned on it, so he had no reason to object.

He nodded and whispered, “I have made new friends and more, so don’t worry, Gaby.”

She crawled closer to him and nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> You're encouraged to leave prompts either in the comments or on my Tumblr: rainbowjaeger or my tmfu sideblog gabytell, either is fine.
> 
> Comments are much appreciated!


End file.
